Automatic fire-escape.



W. E. PAYNE & W. S. EKLUND.

' AUTOMATIC FIRE ESCAPE.

APPLICATION man JUNE 11. 1914.

1,189,381. Patented Ju1y4, 1916.

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in the accompanying drawings, described in UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM E. PAYNE AND WALFRID S. EKLUND, 0F DONN'ER, LOUISIANA.

AUTOMATIC FIRE-ESCAPE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 4, 1916.

Application filed June 1'7, 1914. Serial No. 845,736.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it lmown that we, WILLIAM E. PAYNE and WALFRID S. EKLUND, citizens ofthe United States, residing at Donner, in the parish of Terrebonne andState of Louisiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inAutomatic Fire-Escapes; and we do hereby declare the following to be afull, clear, and exact description of an improvement to be applied toour invention of an automatic fire-escape, the patent of which is nowpending. The improvement is such that will enable others skilled in theart to which it apper- "from a burning building.

Another object of this invention is to provide a fire escape of thecharacter described which comprises a drum and a lowering cable, saiddrum being arranged to unwind against the action of springs mountedwithin the drum and arranged so as to automatically rewind the cablewhen the weight is released therefrom.

Another object of our invention is to gen erally improve and simplifythe construction and operation of fire escapes of the characterdescribed so as to render them more practical, reliable and efficient inoperation and inexpensive to manufacture.

The above and additional objects are accomplished by such means as areillustrated the following specification and then more particularlypointed out in the claim.

With reference to the drawings, wherein we have illustrated thepreferred embodiment of our invention as it is reduced to practice, andthroughout the several views of which similar reference numeralsdesignate corresponding parts, Figure 1 is a front elevation of ourimproved fire escape, Fig. 2 is a bottom plan view of the device. Fig. 3is a side elevation being broken away in part, Fig, 4 is a fragmentarydetail front the flanges of the drum.

elevation of the drum showing it broken away, Fig. 5 is a verticalsectional view taken on line 55 of Fig. 4, Fig. 6 is a fragmentary frontelevation of one of the gear wheels of the device, and Fig. 7 is ahorizontal sectional view taken on line 7 of Fig. 6.

Referring to the drawings by characters of reference, 1 designatesgenerally a frame which comprises a horizontal bar 2 to the ends ofwhich are secured bearings 3 and 4. 1

The bearings 3 and 4 are substantially tri angular and carry upon theirrear vertical edges wall engaging flanges 5 that are disposed at rightangles to the bearings?) and land arranged to abut the wall or surfaceupon which the device is attached.

Rotatably mounted upon a fixed shaft 6 that is secured between and tothe bearings 3 and 4 is a cylindrical drum 7. This drum 7 is hollow andconsists of circular head plates 8 and 9 which are of greater diameterthan the body of the drum and provide for The plates 8 and 9 areprovided adjacent to their peripheries with annular flanges 10 and 11which ex' tend inwardly and engage theinner face of a band 12 formingthe body of the drum. The band 12 is secured to and rests upon theflanges 10 and 11 in spaced relation to the peripheries of the plates 8and 9 as shown clearly in Fig. 5. v

Mounted within the hollow drum 7 are coil springs 13 and 14 which arearranged to retard the drum in the unwinding thereof and toautomatically rewind the cable, to be later described, upon the drum.The outer end of the spring 13 is secured'by suitable fastening elements15 to a lateral projection 16 carried by the plate 9. The projection 16-is carried by the flange 11. Loosely mounted upon the shaft 6 is acollar or sleeve 17 which carries the circular disk 18 of a springconnecting member. The disk 18 is of less diameter than that of the drumand is interposed between the springs 13 and 14. An annular rightangularly extending peripheral flange 19 is carried by the disk 18 andis arranged so as to partly house the spring 14. The inner end of thespring 13 is fixed to the collar 17 in any suitable manner. The outerend of the spring 14 is fixed by suitable fastening elements 20 to theflange 19, while the inner end of said spring 14 is fixed as shown at 21to a sleeve 22 which is held rigid with the shaft 6 by means of a key23.

Fixed to the drum 7 in any suitable manner and arranged to be woundthereon is a lowering cable 24 which carries a ring 25 at its free end.

Rotatably journaled between the bearings 3 and 4 adjacent to the lowerends of the bearings is a screw shaft 26 upon which is adjustablymounted a guide 27 which is formed with a rope or cable receivingaperture 28. The cable 24 is inserted through the aperture 28 and uponrotation of the screw 26 the guide 27 moves from one end of the shaft tothe other and in so doing directs the cable evenly upon the drum. A starwheel 29 is fixed to the shaft 26 and is operated by a plurality ofspaced lugs 30 carried on the outer face of the head plate 9 at a pointadjacent to the periphery ofsaid plate.

The plate 9 is provided in its outer face with an annular recess orconcavity about the edges of which are formed gear teeth 31. Mounted ona stub shaft 32 which is car ried by the bearing 3 is a cog gear 33.Loosely mounted upon the shaft 32 is a pinion 34 which meshes with thegear teeth 31 formed on the head plate 9. Carried on the hub of the gear33 and on opposite sides of the shaft 32 are housings 35 in which aremounted pawls 36. Springs 37 hold the pawls in operative position and inen gagement with the teeth on the pinion 34, said pinion being disposedbetween the housings 35 as shown clearly in Fig. 7 in the drawings. Thepinion 34 is relatively long to provide for its coiiperation with thepawls and its meshing with the gear teeth 31. The pawls 36 are soarranged as to lock with the teeth on the pinion 34 when the latterrotates upon winding of the cable 24. A bearing arm 38 is secured bymeans of a. pin 39 to the shaft 6 and extends outwardly at right anglesthereto. Secured to this bearing arm 38 and extending through thebearing is a shaft 40 to the outer end of which is secured asubstantially rectangular governing vane 41. Fixed on the shaft 40 is apinion 42 which meshes with the gear 33. It will be seen that upon theunwinding of the cable the gear 33 is rotated through the medium of thegear 34 and gear teeth 31 on the head 9 thus causing the vane 41 torotate and retard the movement of the drum.

The operation of the device may be briefly described as follows:Assuming that a person has grasped the ring 25 on the cable 24 and theweight of the person is placed upon the cable, the drum 7 will unwindagainst This ring 25 provides meansfor a person to obtain a hold uponthe cable.

the action of the springs 13 and 14. Since the spring 13 is connected atits inner end to the collar 17 which is loose upon the fixed shaft 6,upon rotation of the drum, the spring 13 will rotate and not affectretarding action relative to the drum. However, the spring 14 in beingfixed at its inner end relative to the shaft 6 will wind up and retardthe movement of the drum. After the spring 14 is wound up completely,the collar 17 will be held fixed relative to the shaft and the spring 13will begin to wind. After the weight of the person is released from. thecable 24 the springs will rewind automatically and the guide 27 willoperate to direct the cable evenly upon the drum.

The vane 41 is caused to rotate and the vane in combination with thesprings retards the movement of the drum sufiiciently to insure an evenand safe descent. When the cable is rewound,the gears 33 and 42 remainidle in View of the arrangement of the pawls 36 relative to the gear 34,thus the governing vane is not operated. The springs 13 and 14 arearranged so that the maximum amount of spring action is provided and toeconomize space, thus enabling the construction of a fire escape whichis comparatively small, light and capable of being readily and easilyattached in position for operation.

In practice, we have found that the form of our invention, illustratedin the drawings and referred to in the above description, as thepreferred embodiment, is the most eflicient and practical; yet realizingthat the conditions concurrent with the adoption of our device willnecessarily vary, we desire to emphasize the fact that .various minor 1changes in details of construction, propor openings removably receivingthe shaft and a connecting substantially cylindrical body portionpresenting a continuous outer sur face between the said heads for thereception of a cable, a disk located centrally Within the drum anddividing the same into two compartments, a sleeve carried by andprojecting from one side of the disk, said sleeve being loosely mountedon the shaft to support the disk for rotation with respect to the shaftand drum, a peripheral flange carried by and extending from the oppositeside of the disk, a second sleeve keyed to the shaft and located on theopposite side of the disk from the loose rotary sleeve and provided witha projection, said sleeves extending from the disk to the heads of thedrum and spacing the disk from the said heads, a tion of the fixedsleeve and its outer end atcoiled spring mounted in one of the comtachedto the said flange.

partments and having its inner end secured WILLIAM E. PAYNE.

to the rotary sleeve and its outer end at- WALFRID S. EKLUND. tached tothe drum, and a second coiled Witnesses:

spring located in the other compartment and H. C. KELLIS,

having its inner end secured to the projee- O. E. GEARHEARD.

copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addreuingthe "Commiuioner of Patents, Washington. D. 0.

